Thing 8 Sharing your creations

For this thing I explored several free websites where you can share photos. You can also use those photos to create other projects. Big huge labs looks like a great place to save photos and create projects. Could this be a project for students using digital cameras? Slideshare is a great site to create and share slide shows. Very mobile. Lazybase allows users to create and share data bases. All of these eleminate emailing files or using a flash drive.

Thing 7 Optional Challenge

This challenge explored Google Groups. Google Librarian looks like a useful tool to learn about all the extra bells and whistles Google has, but we never have or take the time to explore. This looks helpful. I also took a look at Meebo and Twitter. I set up a Meebo account and linked it to FB just to see how chat interfaces using this format. I don't see an immediate benefit to Twitter other than becoming addicted to using it so I did not sign up yet. I will stay open minded and see if what happens.

Working through thing 7-Web 2.0 Tools

There are several things for this thing:
1. email- Been there done that...pretty basic. I have experience, as a patron anyway, of how email can be used in a library setting to notify me when requests become available, and remind me when things are due.
2.IM- I have recently been used this in the form of "chat" on FB. I think this could be a useful tool for people who are not in the library but doing research on line. Or if they have questions about holdings but are not at the library. The downside could be staffing. I think students might find this helpful, but after hours. I did not try it yet though because I am doing 23 things alone, so I don't know who to IM with. It is also summer, so I cannot test it in my work setting.
3.Text Messaging-I am trying to stay with the times, but I don't get the explosion of people texting. Why not just call? You have a phone in your hand. People say they don't want to interupt the other person with live conversation, but I have yet to see anyone ignore that special noise your phone makes when you get a text message. This might work in a really large library, but I don't see the application in my setting.
4.Web Conferencing- This could be a great learning tool! I found a lot of research that I need to go back to. I will watch and report back. It is too much information to include in this post.

Thing #6 Online Image Generator

I explored bighugelabs.com, imagechef.com, and toondoo.com. All of them have unique artwork and all of them seem pretty easy to use. I created a small set of trading cards at bighugelabs.com which can be saved to my computer. This could be a great teaching tool. They could be handed out as a reward to collect. They could also be used to create a game or to use as flashcards. I didn't spend too much time at this...I think you could spend days on it, so I just explored the sites to see what was out there. On to the next thing!

Thing 4-Flickr continued

As you can see, I have a few pictures posted on my blog. How will photosharing work in the library? It would be a way to store and share photos without using onsite storage space. It also creates an easy way to share photos outside the school network. On to the next thing!

Doing 23 things in the summer

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Originally uploaded by hhanson

School is out for summer. It should be time for vacation and not time for thinking about school right? Doing 23 things on a stick during the summer isn't a chore, as long as you have a wireless laptop, a deck and some sunshine!

Heidi and Hedgie in New Ulm

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Originally uploaded by hhanson

Thing 4 Flickr

I created my Flickr account. Very simple process as I already had a yahoo account. Getting pictures posted is tougher. I have an older digital camera and the software isn't compatible with my newer laptop. I did get the pictures downloaded onto another computer, logged into flickr, and uploaded the pictures. Kind of a round about path, but it worked none the less. Now I am trying to post one of those pictures on my blog. This might be a challenge! Notice I did finally get my avatar on my blog though.

Thing 3

Today I learned about RSS. I thought this would be a more involved process to set up, but I now realize that these 23 things I am learning about are far less complicated than one would think at first glance. I guess it is just a matter of taking afew minutes to learn each thing.

I set up my feeds using Google Reader. This was a simple process because I already have a Google account. I subscribed to a couple of Library related sites, just to get started. It looks when you get more and more feeds, you can organize them similar to emails. I think this will be a very useful tool to get the latest information without having to search all over the web. It is even easier than searching through my favorites.